Thankfully, when Larry Bird asked who was going to finish second prior to the start of the 1988 3-point contest, Chris Mullin wasn't a participant. If he had been, they would still be shooting.
Bird and Mullin are arguably the two greatest shooters in NBA history, and are also members of the original Dream Team. And with Mullin's recent induction to the Hall of Fame, both of them will rightfully live on forever in basketball lore.
But who was the better shooter?
Mullin informed Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle about a legendary shootout between himself and Bird while both were in Barcelona with the Dream Team.
"It was just basic shots — jumpers, bank shots, not like the McDonald's commercial," Mullin said. "I got off nice. After a while I had him by … quite a bit."
Jenkins asked how much Mullin was up by, as each miss tacked on another $100.
"I think I was up like 20 shots. So we're talkin' back and forth (Bird was a legendary trash talker), and he starts coming back. I'm thinking, we could go another 30 minutes. Somebody's gonna win big here.
"Finally, he gets it back to zero," Mullin said, "and he goes, 'I'm out.' Just cut off the game right there."
I'd still have my money on Bird.
Between this epic shootout between two greats and the legendary stories from the inter-squad scrimmages and games against college players, someone needs to release all this Dream Team footage.
